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Zack nodded. “Yeah, besides that. There’s more to it. But I don’t know and she won’t tell me what it is.”
“I know you think I’m unreasonably protective of Laurel,” Travis said.
Zack snorted. “No, not at all,” he said with heavy irony.
Ignoring his interjection, Travis continued, “And maybe I am.”
“No maybe about it. But I get that, Travis.” Sort of. It still pissed him off that Travis could even think that Zack, one of his best and oldest friends, was an irresponsible piece of shit.
“When she first got married Harlan and I both thought she was too young. But no one could talk her out of it. We thought he was okay. At first. Hell, he was okay at first. For the first few years, anyway. But I think Laurel was unhappy at least from the time she got pregnant with Katrina until the bastard left. If not before that. And I didn’t see it. Maybe I didn’t want to see. I didn’t do anything about it.”
“At least you were here,” Harlan said. “I can’t even say that.”
“She never talked to either of you or your parents? A girlfriend?”
“Not anyone in the family,” Travis said. “I don’t know about anyone else. Do you know anyone she might have talked to, Harlan?”
“No one,” Harlan said.
“She’s close to Savannah and Tobi now. But she wasn’t close to Savannah back then and Tobi wasn’t even around.” Zack sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“She’s had it really rough since before he left. She wouldn’t let anyone in the family help. Beyond minor things like babysit once in a while. Harlan and I couldn’t even get her to accept a damn job. She said she didn’t want charity from us. At least you were able to convince her to take the job for the airport.”
Zack shrugged that off. “There’s nothing I can do besides keep trying. And hope she decides to trust me enough to tell me the real reason she won’t marry me.”
*
“It was annoyingas hell,” Laurel said to Tobi and Savannah. “I’m going to assume, since neither of you are my overprotective, dumbass brothers, that I’m not going to have to defend myself to you.”
“Defend yourself, no,” Savannah said. “But I’ll admit to being curious why you aren’t going to marry Zack.”
“Ditto,” Tobi said. “Especially since you’re obviously in love with each other.”
“No, we’re not. And that’s the problem.”
Both Savannah and Tobi stared at her. “Oh, bullshit, Laurel,” Savannah said. “It’s crystal clear you love each other.”
“It may be crystal clear to you,” Laurel snapped, “but it isn’t to me. Zack didn’t tell me he loved me and wanted to marry me until he found out I was pregnant.”
“The dummy,” Tobi said. “Laurel, I’ve known he was hung up on you since I got back to town.”
Laurel waved that aside.
“It’s also plain that you’re completely crazy about him,” Savannah said. “So what’s the real reason?”
Laurel sprang up and began to pace. “Lack of trust. That’s the issue.”
“Why in the world don’t you trust Zack?” Tobi asked, obviously bewildered. “He wouldn’t be one of Travis’s best friends if Travis didn’t think he was trustworthy.”
“It’s not Zack I don’t trust. It’s me.”
“Why?” Savannah asked quietly.
Laurel stopped pacing at the couch and sat down. “I have a terrible track record with men.”
“With one man, maybe,” Savannah said. “So you’ve been divorced. Big deal. So have I.”
“You don’t understand. I loved Stan. I trusted him. He was a good guy. At first.”
